In the firm belief that peace begins by meeting the needs in our immediate community, the Greater Tacoma Peace Prize is proud to announce the selection of Maralise Hood Quan as the 2023 Laureate. Throughout a career spanning four decades, Maralise has dedicated herself both within her community and abroad to developing tools and systems for bringing people together to resolve conflict. Starting with coordinating the Conflict Resolution Program at the United Nations University of Peace, Maralise now serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Dialog and Resolution, located in Tacoma.
The Center for Dialog & Resolution (CDR) was founded in 1994 by members of the Pierce County community seeking low-cost ways to resolve differences, and was originally named the Pierce County Center for Dispute Resolution. By 2014, the Center was known as the “region’s best-kept secret”, and formally changed its name to better reflect the culture it sought to cultivate. In 2020 as the country began dealing with the pandemic and ongoing local and national racial injustices, Maralise began “Refresh Friday”, going live on Facebook once a week to discuss opportunities for achieving peace in our current realities. Beyond the weekly refresh, as pandemic era eviction moratorium began to be lifted across the state, Maralise joined with other dispute resolution centers across the state to develop the Eviction Resolution Pilot Program to reduce the financial burden faced by landlords, and keep tenants facing financial difficulty off the streets. Today, under Maralise’s leadership, more than 20,000 people are requesting CDR services per year to resolve a conflict in their life.
The board recognizes the need for advocates and practitioners, who are dedicated to facilitating open conversation about conflict in the community. Maralise’s work with the Center for Dialog & Resolution is a testament to her enduring commitment to parsing out resolutions with her fellow community members. Her work, and the work she facilitates alongside the staff and volunteers at CDR, has greatly impressed the board and our community.
Christine Gleason, who nominated Hood Quan, wrote:
“Maralise Hood Quan is guided by a key principle: she wants people to learn how to treat each other more humanely.”
As we rebuild and uplift a community forever changed by the local and international social justice movements of 2020, Maralise continues to find ways to expand access to the services offered by The Center. She seeks to accomplish this through the Equity and Access Initiative, which includes:
A more equitable payment structure allowing anyone to use the center’s services, which often serve as an important diversion from the legal system; A mediator recruitment plan to build a diverse mediator corps that reflects and understands the community they serve; and
A scholarship program to decrease barriers to accessing training and facilitation.
The Greater Tacoma Peace Prize is a local nonprofit honoring community members and institutions who promote, achieve, and sustain peace, justice, and reconciliation at home and abroad. First awarded in 2005, the GTPP is rooted in Norwegian-American culture and the Norwegian dedication to Peace processes. At the GTPP we are dedicated to celebrating the everyday ways people further peace in our communities, and to growing and nuancing our understanding of Peace in all its forms. You can learn more about the organization at TacomaPeacePrize.org.
Contact: Cort Ockfen, Communications
Greater Tacoma Peace Prize
cort@tacomapeaceprize.org
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Address:
717 Tacoma Avenue South
Tacoma, WA 98402